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Brian Kresge is a retired veteran of the U.S. Army, president of Congregation Beth Israel in Bangor, and a rabbinical student with the Pluralistic Rabbinical Seminary.
There is a profound apprehension in the Maine Jewish community when it comes to speaking publicly on political campaigns. For one, we don’t speak with one voice, so it’s presumptive to lead with “we the Jews.” For another, there’s a sense that whatever the political orientation, it is simply hazardous to speak out.
However, as long-time president of Maine’s oldest synagogue, I feel I have a duty to say something.
U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner had immediate appeal to me, someone who retired from the military after service spanning 30 years and three years overseas. An earthy, authentic combat veteran! What’s not to love?
Well, for one, presenting AIPAC or support for Israel as why things aren’t happening for working folks in Maine. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee ( AIPAC) is not a foreign lobby; it’s made up of American citizens. It’s a point lost on many far-left folks and far-right folks. The Qatari and Saudi interests have more substantial foreign lobbies comparatively.
And if you’re like me, a J Street supporter as opposed to an AIPAC supporter, it still feels to me like Platner’s message is “the Jews and Israel are why rural healthcare is failing.”
Enter the tattoo imbroglio. I served in units like Platner did for longer than Platner. Twenty years of my career were spent in parachute infantry regiments, long range surveillance detachments, and Stryker infantry units. Skull and crossbones were popular. Nazi symbology was not. Hate symbols as tattoos — and a Totenkopf is widely recognized as a hate symbol by the Department of Defense — are disqualifiers for service in many cases.
And then we have the honesty part of the tattoo equation. There are Reddit posts and eyewitness accounts indicating Platner is likely being dishonest about what he knew of his tattoo and when. His former political director quit the campaign over his dishonesty on this and other matters.
If you accept his stories and are satisfied with covering the tattoo, fine, but for me, it takes more than a cosmetic change to cover what I see as a continuum of problematic judgment that he laughed off in a podcast or blamed on drunken stupidity or PTSD. Blaming PTSD is insulting to the legion of combat veterans who, even in dark places, somehow didn’t land on racism and misogyny.
Do I think Platner is an antisemite? I don’t know. I think between the tattoo, Reddit posts, and campaign messaging highlighting Jewish interests as scapegoats for funding priority woes, you could easily make unflattering historical comparisons at the very least. I do not think it’s antisemitic to be critical of Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians, but to make it so central to a domestic political campaign message is strange.
In his Reddit posts, Platner also flirted with racism, armed revolution, but more disquieting to me than anything, was this post:
“In today’s current climate, when every whisper of a misplaced hand brings down a feature length film, anyone who actually thinks the military is purposefully covering up rape to save the career of some god damn [captain], is clearly both an idiot and junior enough in rank or life experience to think it matters.”
I was neither an idiot nor junior in rank or life experience when the Bangor Daily News broke the story, which I was interviewed for, about sexual assault in the Maine National Guard. I testified before a legislative committee about my own experiences during a hazing ritual, and I spent a considerable amount of time working with survivors of military sexual trauma in and out of uniform, work I continue to do today. There was a culture of exactly what Platner said doesn’t exist in our state units.
I don’t care if he said it three or 13 years ago, these sentiments are abhorrent. The next U.S. senator from Maine may be called upon to vote or shape the future of sexual assault prevention in our armed forces. It is imperative that we field candidates who have a history of action and integrity on these matters.
I believe Graham Platner lacks the judgment, honesty, and integrity to represent a state of people who are brimming with those qualities. We can do better, and we should.
